Objective To explore the elements of nursing crisis leadership in infectious public health emergencies, and to provide a reference for hospital to train and evaluate nursing staff. Methods Based on the Six Dimensions Model of Crisis Leadership, semi-structured interviews were conducted among 11 nursing managers and 10 clinical nurses who had participated in the fight against the COVID-19 and/or Ebola outbreak using purposive sampling.Content analysis method was used to analyze the information and identify the themes. Results A total of 6 themes and 17 subthemes were included in nursing crisis leadership in infectious public health emergencies:foresee the crisis (information insight, event screening ability, danger prediction ability), load the responsibility (global awareness, responsibility, dedication), insist on the faith (sense of mission, sense of honor, willpower), govern the situation (decision-making ability, organizational ability,instructive ability), head the people(empathy,evocative ability), thrive on crisis (self-reflection ability, ability to grasp opportunities, rapid learning ability). Conclusion The identified core elements and specific connotations of nursing crisis leadership among nurses in coping infectious public health emergencies, can provide a reference for managers assessing, selecting and training nursing personnel.